Portland man arrested for threatening students

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - A 32-year old man is expected to be arraigned Friday in connection with threats made to a group of children at an elementary school in Portland Wednesday afternoon

Derek Weeks is accused of making racial slurs and threatening to kill a group of student who participating in an after school program.

School officials say the families of the seven students who were allegedly threatened by Weeks were notified about the incident last night.

Thursday, several of the students and family members met with guidance counselors to talk about the incident. English is second language for more than half of the students at the school, some of the countries they immigrated from include Kenya, Iraq and Somalia.

Officials say the school has not had any racial issue in the past so the alleged threats caught them off guard. The school considers itself part of the neighborhood and has what's called an 'open playground' but parents say to find out that another parent is allegedly responsible is shocking.

'It's kind of scary, I shared it on my Facebook' page because this is multi-cultural ara and for someone to come into our environment and say something like that, say Tracy Banville the mother of a third grader at the school.

Weeks is currently being held on 250-thousand dollars bond, he could go before a judge Friday.